Past Lives
by P2tbAnimeGirl
Summary: Korra is feeling upset over her difficulty in mastering airbending. Mako offers some kind words. Slight Makorra.


A/N: Fic takes place somewhere before Episode 4.

Pairing: Slight Mako X Korra

Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Korra or any of its characters. They belong to Nickelodeon studios. This is a non-profit fan made work.

**Past Lives**

The week had been tough and Korra was gladly ready to push it behind her. To never look back at the cluster mess this week had been.

Violent bending couldn't even alleviate the built up stress she had gathered up throughout the week. She had tried of course; smashed clay discs littered the training room floor and the mats were scorched in a way she knew the landlord with disapprove of.

"Stupid Tenzin." She hissed aloud to no one in particular as she sent another disc into the waiting net. No satisfaction came when it shattered. She prepared another.

"He doesn't want _me_. He wants his father. Special, fantastic, do-no-wrong, _perfect_ Aang." She continued to talk to herself, trying to sort out her thoughts and burn off her anger as she shattered more clay.

"I hate it when he talks about my past lives as though I haven't heard it before. '_When Aang was Avatar this_' and '_Avatar Aang could that'_." She twisted her voice in a mock mimic at these words.

"It's just - Ugh!" She shouted through clenched teeth, refusing to admit the real issue she was dealing with aloud. It was easier to be angry with Tenzin.

So she chose to shatter more clay and rip the net instead. She stopped at that and took a look at the training room around her. It looked as though a bomb had gone off. Deep down she did care; that she would have to somehow clean all of this up and fix the damage done. She knew she should've stopped while she was ahead, but still continued to prepare more clay discs.

She bit her lip before continuing to talk aloud.

"He's a terrible teacher. He's supposed to teach me airbending. I don't need to be spiritual like Aang! He can't make me become Aang because I'm _not_ and never will be _him_!"

"You'll never be who?"

More shattered clay hit the ground as Korra lost her concentration and quickly turned around to see Mako in the doorway.

"No one," She replied before turning her back to him once more.

"Something wrong then?" He pressed.

"No." She snapped in reply.

"Clearly there is." He replied as he walked deeper into the war-torn room.

"Just go away, Mako."

Instead of doing as she said, he took his life in his hands and strolled deeper into the wreckage. He found a suitable training mat that wasn't too terribly burned and sat down; crossing his legs and leaning against the wall behind him with his hands behind his head for support.

"Common Korra. What's bothering you? If it's about being thrown into the water in last nights –" He began before Korra interrupted.

"It has _nothing_ to do with that." The edge in her voice was there, but not as sharp as it was before.

"Tell me what's wrong then." He replied.

"Why do you care?"

"Fine, don't tell me. Just don't let it get in the way of tonight's match." Mako replied with a sigh of annoyance.

"Alright. It's just that I," She let out a small huff through her nostrils before continuing. "I hate it when Master Tenzin compares me to my past lives. He's always telling me what the previous avatars achieved in their lifetimes. It makes me feel like _I'm_ not important. Almost like this lifetime of _mine_ is a waste. I mean, I'm nobody without being the Avatar, and even then I'm not as good as the others before me."

"Korra, you don't know that. You're still young and in training. Don't count yourself out when you have the rest of your life ahead of you." Mako replied sincerely.

"But what if I-"

"Nobody's perfect Korra, not even the Avatar. It's supposed to be a learning process, right?"

"Thanks Mako," Korra thanked with a small sigh and smile.

"No problem. I'd hate to see you down during tonight's match; we need our confident, strong and aggressive Avatar on the team." Mako replied as he got up from the charred mat.

Korra gave a small smile as Mako walk past towards the door.

Mako had wanted to say something along the lines of, "_nobody's perfect, but you're important because you're you and because I only get one life to love you in_", but instead settled on:

"Oh and don't forget to clean up this mess. The landlord is going to kill you if he sees the place like this."

"Mako!" Korra shouted in surprise and embarrassment as she realized the true extent of the damage. "Can't you help?!"

"Not my mess." Mako replied with a small smile before walking down the hall and far away from the room. The landlord couldn't blame him or charge him a fee if he wasn't anywhere near the place after all.

* * *

**A/N**: I apologize for any spelling and grammars I may have missed. I know that I am not perfect when it comes to this department, but I am working towards improvement. Reviews would also be appreciated.


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